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North Sea BFOE Crude-Oil Loading Programs to Rise 4.5% in July

By Cassie Werber LONDON--The amount of crude oil due to be pumped from North Sea fields will rise by 4.5% in July from the previous month. All the fields that make up the BFOE basket of crudes will have broadly similar loadings to the previous month, according to provisional loading programs seen by The Wall Street Journal. There will be six Brent cargoes in July, the same as in June, and 19 Forties cargoes, up from 17 the previous month. There are due to be 15 cargoes loaded at the Ekofisk field, up from 14, and six at Oseberg, down from seven in June. Loading programs are released and circulated among oil traders and brokers, but don't give a perfect indication of oil volume because they can be subject to change. Brent crude is of international importance because it remains one of the most liquid markets and influences oil prices across the globe. North Sea loading programs: June 2014 July 2014 (barrels) Volume (B/D) (barrels) Volume (B/D) Brent 3,600,000 120,000 3,600,000 116,129 Forties 10,200,000 340,000 11,400,000 367,742 Oseberg 4,200,000 140,000 3,600,000 116,129 Ekofisk 8,400,000 280,000 9,000,000 290,323 Total BFOE 26,400,000 880,000 27,600,000 890,323 Write to Cassie Werber at cassie.werber@wsj.com, Twitter: @cassiewerber